LEVEL THREE LOCKDOWN LANDBASED TOURNAMENT RESULTS
2020 LEVEL THREE LOCKDOWN TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Its been an interesting ol time alright! As we move into Level two hopefully we leave level three behind us for good! At least this time has allowed us to chase a few fish, spend time with our bubble people and a few you even won some cash!
The comp was spawned from really the frustrations of not being able to get out on the water and for many of us returning to shore fishing as been a pile of laughs and fun. The comp was run from Saturday to Saturday and attracted 59 anglers, 19 of whom were fishing in the kids section. It was important that everyone was familiar with the Lockdown rules as the TSFC has been in absolute support of the efforts to keep out Covid 19.
We couldn’t believe it that after 6 weeks of near perfect weather that the next big storm decided to hit right in the middle of our lockdown comp. The bad weather mid week didn’t even phase a few hardy souls who still managed to get out there with a little help of Mum and Dad. The lockdown has at least has provided for some great family bonding!
There were some really good fish caught and we reckon a landbased tournament is something the Club should definitely carry on with!
A massive thankyou to our amazing sponsors GENERATION HOMES, DECORO, INSIGNIA DESIGN, DAVISTA DESIGN who without there support we would not have any cash prizes.
SEE ALL THE RESULTS HERE
2019 DECORO SNAPPER KINGFISH TOURNAMENT REPORT
2019 DECORO SNAPPER KINGFISH TOURNAMENT REPORT
The Snapper Kingfish comp for some reason always feels like the first tournament for the year. Spring is in the air, the days are getting warmer and longer and the kingies are starting to bust up bait on the surface, plus there always seem to be a few really big snapper around.
The team at Decoro this year emphasised a real desire to run an event that was fun and had as little impact on the resource as possible. To achieve this we revisited the tournament prizes schedule and basically redistributed the value into those Measure and Release categories. Not only this we expanded the M&R sections ensuring that everyone who came in the top five for both snapper and kingfish walked away with a nice Penn combo as well as a bunch of tackle and merchandise. Still having weigh prizes ensures that anglers can still keep fish if they wish and gave anglers flexibility with fish that didn’t survive capture could also be submitted. They just aren’t worth as much at prize giving time. It’s a formula that really does work. The fact we had 123 anglers turn up last weekend to essentially release many of their best fish speaks volumes as to how seriously our anglers value the resource we have!
The weather again this year was a pretty tough call with some conflicting forecasting and the potential for wind on the last day of the event. After waiting for the final updates as a group we decided that the weather window looked like we could comfortably get the comp underway but with the wind due sometime after lunch on Sunday we pulled the weigh station hours forward with final weigh time at 4pm.
There was only one crew through the weigh station on Saturday and that was the team off Marlin with young Ashton Edwards weighing a beautiful 5.8kg Snapper, this one later claiming third place in the weigh snapper category and heaviest fish for a junior. Well done Ashton!
Day two turned on the calm weather and with that the boat ramp carparks looked absolutely chocka! The majority of reports seemed to be suggesting slow fishing out there, however there were rumours abound of some very large snapper being caught so this predictably made the weigh in all the more exciting.
Only one kingfish made the length for a legal weigh at 1m long, and it was Mark Armistead claiming first place in this section with a 15.8kg kingy. Other than this all other kingfish were submitted in the M&R category, 22 in total and some nice one too with Stu Roberts fishing on Nailed it picking up the best of them at 114cm (Smart Marine grid) and also winning the Dave Foley Memorial Trophy for the longest Kingfish. The longest fish for a junior was claimed this year by Mason De Raat with a respectable 87cm kingfish.
In the Snapper weigh section Tony Brown managed to pip the competition with a 6.36kg fish and Jamie Lee just behind with a 5.84kg. In total only 12 snapper weighed this year compared to 27 fish submitted in the M&R category.
This year it was heart-warming to see so many large snapper being caught and returned to the water to fight another day. The top four in the Snapper M&R section were over 70cm, the biggest of these a whooping 85cm beast (est 12kg) caught by David Wallace fishing on board Free Flo, this one out of the Generation Homes sponsors grid!
The final accolades were shared by the team on board In Pursuit winning the Decoro Team Trophy. This one was for the longest combined length of a Kingfish and Snapper. It was close with the In Pursuit team clocking up 175.5cm, Free Flo 174cm and Nailed It on 172cm! Well done to all of you!
Finally thanks to all of our anglers that turned out and supported the event and in turn supported the Club and Sponsors – Decoro, Rock Gas Tauranga, Penn Tackle and Heartland Homes! This is one very cool event, made all the better for the people involved and supporting it!
We can’t wait for next year!
Snapper-Kingfish 2019 RESULTS
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE!
2019 GFAB TRAILERS BROADBILL CHALLENGE – REPORT
2019 GFAB TRAILERS BROADBILL CHALLENGE – REPORT
This year’s it was decided to run the Broadbill Challenge over a longer duration (18th April – 31st May) as we were keen to see anglers maximising their time on the water as the weather this time of year is usually more unpredictable so it was fingers crossed for a few more settled periods that what we had last year.
With the cash being won last year our premiums went through the roof! So after looking at numerous options for providing a cash prize this year the Fish Committee did a superb job finding a solution and was again thrilled able to offer the incentive of $10k to anglers should a fish be caught over 260kg. Unfortunately returning with the cash prize meant that the tournament fee had to be increased to $75 which didn’t deter the 77 anglers that signed up. Among the anglers that signed up this year were proven talented anglers, skippers and teams that were sure to test the $10k offer.
We didn’t have to wait long for the weighmasters phone to be ringing with a large sword being reported on Good Friday the 19th April! YIP that’s day one! A preverbal dream team of angling talent had assembled on Bandit and looked to have hit the ball out of the park with a fish that had been reported as perhaps going close to the 260 mark. Angler Michael Easton after an exhaustive battle and with the help of the team secured what could only be described as a beast of a fish, this later loading the scales to 274kg. Unfortunately the fish was non-qualifying after a gaff rope rule was breached. This was such an amazing fish, for most of us the biggest we had seen so clearly it was disappointing for everyone.
A week later Elevar landed another “CLanker!” with Isaac Churcher on the rod a little further from home in the Stoney Creek sponsors grid (White Island) This fish was fat, really fat and weighed in at 199.20kg and immediately became the fish to beat. The 4th May brought about the third fishable weekend, giving many of the boats the opportunity at least to spend some time on the grounds. The team on Crows Nest has been practising the “day time thing” and hit pay-dirt with a nice tagged sword estimated at 180kg for angler Craig Parnwell. The same day Jamie Lee off Fascination 2 hooked, battled and landed and later weighed a 143.2kg sword again very short but very fat. Cherie Elmsly and brother Hayden got in on the action the following day on their boat Satisfaction with a smaller but solid fish, this one being tagged and swimming away strongly to fight another day.
The Reel Bay fish was the next to be hooked in the High Duty Plastics grid #24 on the 11th May. It was played alongside Campbell Carters sword (fishing aboard Bandit) which came to the boat minus a bill and estimated at 80kg, this was TnR’d and sent back home while the battle on Reel Bay raged on. Paul Kite was locked in a solid battle with a very stuborn very large fish, the guys had seen it on the surface and called it as a good one but it wasn’t until it was boat side over 4 hours later and the lads unable to get the behemoth through the transom gate did they realise just how big this fish was. Getting this fish to the weigh station given it size became a matter of urgency with the $10k riding and what a good call it was! When lifted on the gallows the fish only just squeaked over the 260kg mark by 300grams, that’s about one Heineken! So all of a sudden the Reel Bay fish was the one to beat and just three weeks to go…..
A mid-week hit out on the 14th May and taking advantage of the clear calm weather saw Stuart Roberts on board Miss Trev land a really nice sword estimated at 170kg. This one he decided to put a pin in and no doubt secretly hoped this might qualify for the last tagged fish. The following weekend Michael Easton struck again, this time fishing on Reel Heaven with Luke Dolman. This broadbill was not quite the monster they were hoping for and was tagged and the lads carried on chasing the trophy.
It was to be Reel Heaven again in the spot light on the 25th May with all of the lads entered in the H&F Snapper Classic, but strangely ended up sword fishing?! Mid-morning Luke coming across Channel 3 reporting John Milnes as being hooked up to something good. As the hours rolled on expectations soared as to the size of the fish and I’m sure the good fellas on Reel Bay could see the $10k potentially disappearing to a better fish. John played that fish for 10 hours, that’s one hell of an effort! Hooking what was clearly the Mike Tyson of swordfish, punching well above its weighed (which ended up being 166.9kg) Nice fish and unbelievable effort guys!
To wind things up it was to be Michael Easton that had the first word and the last, catching the biggest and the smallest and finally tagging the most when he put a pin in a nice estimated 70kg fish again in HDP #24 on the 30th May.
What an event it certainly had a bit of everything! Congratulation to Reel Bay and Paul Kite not only winning the $10,000 but also cementing a new Club 60kg Mens Record. Well done also to all of our anglers. Thanks to everyone that came to the prize giving it was fantastic to see so many of you there celebrating the fishing the fish and comp, and finally thanks gain to our awesome sponsors!
RESULTS
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE !
*Just a quick side note here to say thanks guys for sharing the fish about, I know all of the staff were raving about how delicious the fish was (a real treat) Thanks!
2019 Hunting & Fishing Snapper Classic REPORT
2019 Hunting & Fishing Snapper Classic REPORT
First up it was awesome having Hunting & Fishing back on board this year, sponsoring the great H&F clothing and supplying the fancy kit from Diawa, Finnor and Coleman.
What wasn’t so great, was the hard call around the dodgy weather (although it has to be expected this time of year!) So after a long look at the forecast for the 18th and 19th May we decided to pass it up! This was much to the horror of some anglers that had spied a glorious Saturday morning. But this only gave us at best one day of fishing as Sunday was to be blown out, combine this with a full moon and it was all looking pretty average. But what grabbed or attention was a large high over Australia that was tracking our way! That was enough to swing the 50/50 call, and as the week progress it was a huge relief to see the fine weather materialise for the 25th and 26th May. Fortunately our anglers were looking at the same forecast, this mobilising 92 keen snapper fisherman into registration, this number up on the 76 the previous year.
After briefing many of the teams ripped straight into it, making a course for Mayor Motiti and the East Coast, with such settled weather and a small swell the fishing options were plentiful.
Day one and with little radio chit chat it was difficult to determine how everyone was doing and with only two teams weighing 2-3kg snapper at the weigh station the first day it was still pretty much a mystery as to what was being caught. In actual fact the weather was simply so good it was understandable that teams didn’t return on Saturday as fishing the change of light “bite” was a much better option!
Sunday, day two of the vent and we were blessed with another stunner. A few of the teams had already reported a good evening and morning bite so it was clear there were to be some nice fish coming in. The weigh station opened at 3pm and was kindly manned by Lee and Deryk was steady for the whole two hours as teams checked in with their catches. A few wreck-fish were recorded, some respectable terakihi and plenty of really good Snapper. Clearly most anglers were just weighing there good ones as the average over the 47 fish weighed ended up at a respectable 3.827kg and by chance Rebecca Burman fishing on Riba was closest winning the average weight prize!
Junior Kaesharn Hedgeman had a great comp winning 3rd heaviest Tarahihi, 3rd heaviest wreckfish and taking out the heaviest fish for a junior with his 7.605kg bluenose. The biggest wreck fish for the comp was a nice 16.1kg bass, while the largest Tarakihi 1.485kg to Jeff Davenport caught out of High Duty Plastics sponsors grid.
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE
Snapper Classic RESULTS 2019
On the Snapper scene, we had some crackers coming through the weigh station with the top 4 all over 7kg. The winning heaviest fish was caught by Takawai Edwards with a 9.005kg Snapper on his boat MARLIN out of the Champness Roofing grid. In the measure and release snapper section, the father and son team of Lawrence and Jonathon Flude on board Gulfseeker took out all three prizes with Snapper in-between 74.05-79.5cm.
Thankyou again to Hunting & Fishing and to all of our anglers that enjoyed the snapper fishing over last weekend! We hope to see you all back next year!
OMOKOROA ITM BILLFISH BONANZA 2019 REPORT
OMOKOROA ITM BILLFISH BONANZA 2019 REPORT
It was fantastic this year to have what looked like a brand new naming sponsor for this year’s Billfish Bonanza with Omokoroa ITM coming aboard. In fact it’s the same Oregon ITM group that incorporates the Mount ITM that leant their support to last year’s event, so again we have been privileged to receive such wonderful backing for what is our last blue water event for the summer.
This year the forecast looked outstanding and although it didn’t live up to its promise, the weather didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the 139 anglers that turned up this year. With about 10 boats deciding to take the starboard turn out the entrance and take the long trip towards the eastern BOP. The rest of the teams seemed to concentrate their efforts on the High Duty Plastics, Port of Tauranga and Tarpaulin Makers grids that had all been producing very large striped marlin prior to the tournament.
Thanks to Shimano NZ the prize stage was looking packed with a wide range of high end shimano rods and reels including 5 Talica 25 combos for the tag and release billfish prizes, again encouraging those on the water to be tagging their fish.
Over the three days six striped marlin were tagged, many lost and seven marlin weighed in at the Club. For a couple of anglers this was their first marlin and a bucket-list moment! A special mention to Tony and Aidan Brown realising the dream of a first marlin for Lee Lawson after 10 years on his boat Monaco!
The day one action really belonged to one angler being Karl Boielle off the trailer boat Happy Hour. On a day that Karl couldn’t convince any of his mates to take a day off work, and determined not to miss a day on the water and ended up fishing solo. By mid-morning across the radio came “Happy Hour hooked up” not long after the message that Karl had just tagged a striped marlin. We didn’t need to wait much longer before we heard “Happy Hour hooked up” again, and yes the result was another tagged striped marlin. In the last few hours of daylight Karl was trolling home reflecting on a great day when “bang” a strike on the short corner, this time a Blue Marlin! What an amazing day!
The winning fish this year came off the trailer boat Night Mair with Wilson Crocker being one of the first time anglers, taking grand honours and ‘first place heaviest billfish’ with a mighty 250.4kg Blue Marlin. The team on Night Mair had spent the night before sword fishing all night and were a bit sleep deprived in the morning. But it only took them five minutes of trolling before this massive Blue Marlin helped them shake off the morning fuzz. A stubborn fish the fight lasting almost 4 hours!
The next biggest fish was another special Blue Marlin weighing 233.9kg to Alana Duncan off the boat Riba. Alana’s fish had died during the fight and she spent a gruelling 3.5hrs getting this fish back to the surface in stand up equipment, one heck of an effort that gained her the ‘Heaviest fish for a lady angler and second heaviest billfish. In third place was Mikey Lee’s 181.3kg on board Fascination 2, a beautiful looking fish and a great way for the team to round of a very successful tournament season.
Some nice Mahimahi this year in the 11-12kg range this year with the largest going to Louise Stewart off Ocean Monarch with a 12.26kg hen taken from the Stoney Creek grid. Another incredible highlight for the tournament was the absolute beast of a Shortbilled Spearfish weighing 34.5kg on 24kg by junior angler Ezra Keenan claiming first place in this shortbilled section. This one being a pending Club, New Zealand and World Record!
Thanks to all of our anglers, the lucky ones and not so lucky for fishing this wonderful event, also a big thankyou to Omokoroa ITM, Hool Marine, Petroluem Logistics, Glass Art and NZ Bayfisher!
STONEY CREEK ONE BASE TOURNAMENT 2019 – Round UP!
STONEY CREEK ONE BASE 2019 – ROUND UP!
Who could have picked 2019 was going to be such a boomer. Its takes a little bit of everything for an event to come together to be great. Good anglers, some good fish, a bit of nice weather, supportive sponsors, you need a good team behind the scenes, a good tournament radio operator but most of all you need a bit of luck! This One Base and our 30th Anniversary year we got a bit of luck and all the other elements came together in what turned many are calling one of the best One Base Tournaments in recent times.
This year with the wild card anglers the One Base hosted 115 teams comprised of 407 anglers everyone leaving the Tauranga entrance on Wednesday 6th March in what was a spectacular shotgun start. The four day forecast looked really settled apart from a spike on the Friday afternoon which was actually “bang on” so at least this forecasting allowed the teams to make plans to stay safe.
The first day set the scene well with Fascination 2 tagging and releasing a striped marlin as did Crank later on in the day. Young junior Angler Tom Fowler did exceptionally well landing a very respectable 19.3kg kingfish giving him the ‘first junior to weigh an eligible fish award’, while Neil Beattie weighed in what turned out to be the heaviest snapper for the event at 10.26kg. The team on Bar Tender had the “midas touch” after winning the team beverage crate proceeded on day one to catch and weigh the comps first marlin with a 210.9kg Blue Marlin out of the Stoney Creek grid. Angler Brad Pedersen later when on to win the Shimano Raffle taking home Shimano electric reel, as well as owner Steve Prole picking up second place in the striped marlin section with a 142kg fish.
Day two results were busy with the ‘after 6pm’ weigh station activity the evening before. Strangely the marlin just got bigger into the night! A 140.5kg Blue Marlin for Jason Eynon on Sundance Kid, then a wonderful 226.7kg blue marlin to Ian Thomas on Cobra, with festivities topped off with a whopping 300.2kg Blue Marlin to Adam Milnes off the boat Black Label, this one carrying through to be the biggest gamefish for this year’s One Base. Adam backed his marlin up with a beautiful 41.2kg Yellowfin Tuna both caught out of Furuno Blue Beam grid, this fish taking first place in the Tuna section.
Kristen Zaloumis managed a nice 110.35kg Striped Marlin for their boat Outer Limits, awarding Kristen the Heaviest Fish caught by a Lady Angler in the One Base. Okura 2 also made weigh in and once again did well in the kingie section placing Butch Waterhouse in first place in the kingie section with a 20.82kg fish and team mate Kerry Clark taking out both first and second in the measure section. In the longest Snapper section Tony Wood took out the competition with a 79cm moocher, with Aidan Brown doing really well in second with a 72cm.
Day Three and the teams hunkered down in preparation for the wind which seemed to hit the teams down east a little earlier. Mahimahi from both Sansparel and Riba caught the day before arrived in, the biggest a lovely 13.52kg fish for John Mertrom. Draydon Layne fought, landed and weighed a beauty short billed spearfish of 23.7kg that managed to hold off the others for first place in the Spearfish category as well as giving him the heaviest fish for a junior. A real bonus to this catch is the Spearfish is a pending junior record for 60kg and pending NZ Record! Another solid fish was the 23.7kg Albacore caught by Kevin Houlton on Forte, this one narrowly missing being another Club record. Congrats to the In Pursuit team weighing a fine 126.7kg Stripey, but unfortunately were eclipsed when the winning 171.6kg Striped Marlin was weighed by Brent Hogg off Valhalla, this fish taking first place in the NZ Heaviest list for the season to date, and for the One Base it was fittingly the winning Striped Marlin! Great fish guys! Well done also the team off Fascination 2 weighing in a beutiful 226kg Blue marlin as well as tagging two other and t&r spearfish to give them champion boat for 2019!
Day Four being a shorter day still had plenty of action on the radio. Bar Tender manged their last minute 142kg Striped Marlin, and Nora threatened the Spearfish category with a nice 21.3kg fish, while Ryan Kahn weighed in his solid 192.9kg Blue Marlin off Ocean Pacific unfortunately not even making the top three! Of course all the tag and release marlin paperwork came through totalling 16 TnR marlin (5 of which were Blues) all of these anglers receiving a gold Tiagra 50W thanks to Bay Insurance Brokers.
It was a solid four days of competition with good weather and some world class fish and home for some of the best fisherman in New Zealand here competing. In short this year was nothing short of magical! Thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters, thank you to out TSFC team here and last but certainly not least a massive thankyou to Deryk for a wonderful job over VHF Ch 3 for the four days. SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!
MIX UP CONCRETE FISH N CHICKS TOURNAMENT REPORT!
2019 MIX UP CONCRETE FISH N CHICKS REPORT
The Fish N Chicks Tournament rocked into 2019 with a brand new look with the team from Mix Up Concrete taking up the naming rights, and backed up by a host of other supporting sponsors the prizes year to year just keep getting better. It’s true we like spoiling our ladies!!!
After last year’s event was confined to the harbour the weather was again threatening to keep us there for 2019. Although the winds were only forecast for 14-16 knots after years of being familiar with the notorious Sou’Easter here in the BOP we know that even these winds can mean really uncomfortable conditions.
This year even given the average forecast 134 ladies turned out compared to 127 last year, and as expected the weather did play its part in determining where most teams could fish with the majority choosing to take shelter in behind Motiti or Mayor. While the other half after testing the conditions outside the entrance decided the best option for comfort was in fact the harbour! The fishing was again surprisingly good again for the boats that fished the early hours with some nice kahawahi, trevally and plenty of respectable snapper a few squeaking over the 2kg requirement!
This year the fish committee notified a couple of changes at briefing to offer more opportunity to the anglers due to the rough sea state by adding in trevally and kahawhai to the species schedule. Also due to high seas this year trailer boats were permitted to leave from alternative ports rather than just the Tauranga entrance. This rule change we hoped allowed smaller boats the flexibility to find more favourable conditions and stay safer.
This year there were almost 100 photo entries in the SPARK Business Hub HERO SHOT competition the three winning shots being standouts for our independent judges. Well done to the team on Encore, Cascade and Deanna Yang taking out first place and the Iphone 8 with a creative off the rocks shot! Check out all these out in our TSFC Fish N Chicks Facebook album!
Ocean Monarch did the hard yards again this year, by punching down to Waihau and being rewarded with a small blue marlin of 122.9kg and tagging a nice striped marlin. While Elevar did well to fish the rough conditions also at Waihau to hook, play and land a magnificent 171.3kg blue marlin for Caitlin Holmberg, this one taking out the heaviest billfish category.
Team Kiwoz dominated the inshore trevally and kahawahi sections taking our all three trevally spots and first kahawhai, while the team on Optimus found the honey hole of big snapper the biggest 9.6kg going to Tamia Simons. While once again the ladies off Okura 2 showed they are the kingfish specialists to beat taking out the top two spots with a 13.2kg to Jill Marsh and a 13.02kg for Shirley Waterhouse.
Prize Giving was a hectic affair with 15 entries in the Roll N Roll themed fancy dress “quick fire run way” competition. It has to be said everyone looked amazing and the judging to be honest was a bit of a lottery as it was that close!
We had also an amazing response to our Top Skipper and Deckie stories, in fact there were too many to get through at prizing giving, but thanks to the Free Flo ladies who were good enough to take the mic and present their poems! Thanks to adult World for the prize packs also, perhaps not what the Skippers and Deckies were expecting… LOL’s!
The new band for the club SHABANG rocked the party until the early hours (for those that still had energy!) and big props to our bar and kitchen crew who kept the food and bar flowing.
Finally a special thanks also to our Fish N Chicks Committee (Jess Milnes, Heather Groundin, Louise Stewart, Kristen Zaloumis, Alana Duncan) who did a spectacular job of gaining sponsorship and promoting the tournament this year! Lastly a massive thanks to all of the ladies that competed this year, you were all absolute stars, and finally the biggest thanks to all of our sponsors who generosity make such events possible! Can’t wait until next year…bring it on!
